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Welcome to my musings on pop culture and parenting. I am the Pop Mama and this is a safe place to steal away from your screaming child and get your fix on what's up with Beyonce and great poop stain remover tips.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Although this was a short work week, it seemed much much longer! I am so ready for the weekend and to spend some family time. Speaking of family time, this week I caught up with two very different families -- the Duggars and Catelynn's family on MTV Teen Mom. The Duggars, as you know are wholesome and loving and would never utter an unkind word to one another. At the other end of the spectrum is Catelynn's mom, April. In fact, TV was rife with Mommy issues this week...

On this week's Teen Mom April exhibited some of the most appalling parenting I had yet to see on this show -- and it was coming from an adult and NOT a teen mom. April took Catelynn and one of Catelynn's friends prom dress shopping and when Catelynn preferred a dress that her mother thought was "ugly," April freaked out, shut down and resorted to berating Catelynn and calling her the b word over and over. I couldn't believe it. You would have thought that April was actually the child in the situation and not just a child, a drugged out juvenile delinquent. April's behavior only got more disgusting when she made the girls leave the store and then texted Catelynn saying that she owed her gas money. All because Catelynn liked a dress that she didn't...Catelynn didn't even buy the disputed dress and instead bought a different one...probably to appease her childish verbally abusive mother. I couldn't believe what I was watching, but it certainly reinforces Catelynn's and Tyler's decision to give Carly away for adoption. Can you imagine what type of life Carly would have with a grandma like that? I truly cannot imagine what Catelynn's life is like with a volatile mother and a stepfather in rehab. For Butch's (Catelynn's stepdad, Tyler's biological dad-- I know, it's creepy) rap sheet visit: http://starcasm.net/archives/31202

Farrah on Teen Mom was also dealing with mother/daughter issues of her own. After her mother's completion of mandatory community service and anger management counseling, Farrah and her mom reconciled enough to attend counseling together and "hang out" with Farrah's daughter Sophia in tow. I was happy to see this development, although I think Farrah and her mother still have a lot of issues to work out...keep up the therapy ladies!

To end on a happy note -- we will return to Pleasantville and the Duggar family. Michelle and Josie are back in the fold at the family compound and readjusting to life around the million other family members. Michelle has to segregate Josie from the other kids for the majority of the time to shield her from germs and excessive touching. Josie had a well check-up and was progressing quite nicely, although it is pretty amazing to think that she was born in December and weighs about what my son did at birth. I hope she continues to thrive. At the end of the episode Michelle addressed the question of whether or not she would have more children after this experience with Josie. Her answer was that if God wanted to bless her with another gift (child), then she would welcome it. She explained that she had preeclampsia with her twins (her 2nd pregnancy) and when she looks at the child she had after the twins (Jill), she knows that she was meant to keep having children even after having preeclampsia -- or something like that...

Anyways, my recording ended while she was still talking, so I don't know if she touched on the fact that at her advanced maternal age, preeclampsia could KILL her and leave all of her other 19 children motherless. As someone who had preeclampsia, it scares me to have another and I'm about 13 years younger than her...I just want her to talk about that possibility. Maybe she did and I missed it.

Okay, so Friday is here and I am going to enjoy my weekend -- and hopefully that bottle of wine I posted about yesterday. I'm also going to give my mom a big hug for not being an abusive crazy person and for not having 19 other children who would take the attention off of me...love you mom!